The month of March is here, and while in other places, people are thinking about spring, where I live in Edmonton, we know there will be plenty more winter to come.

So let’s begin with a couple of excerpts from a William Carlos William poem, titled “March” and which you can find in his book Sour Grapes, on Project Gutenberg.

Winter is long in this climate
and spring—a matter of a few days
only,—a flower or two picked
from mud or from among wet leaves
or at best against treacherous
bitterness of wind, and sky shining
teasingly, then closing in black
and sudden, with fierce jaws.

and:

March,
you are like a band of
young poets that have not learned
the blessedness of warmth
(or have forgotten it).

At any rate—
I am moved to write poetry
for the warmth there is in it
and for the loneliness—
a poem that shall have you
in it March. 

and:

Seeking
flowers nowhere to be found,
they twine among the bare branches
in insatiable eagerness—
they whirl up the snow
seeking under it—
they—the winds—snakelike
roar among yellow reeds
seeking flowers—flowers.

I spring among them
seeking one flower
in which to warm myself!

April is National Poetry Month, so perhaps March should be National Writing Poetry Month. It’s certainly the month for looking for flowers to warm ourselves! In my case, I will be buying them from the florist, or watching them appear on Rob’s canvases.

It’s been a while since I suggested a writing prompt, but how about this:

Write a poem for the warmth there is in it.

Write a poem for March.

Write a poem for a single flower.

Write a poem as kindling to warm yourself.

Write a poem that is a bouquet of flowers.

Write a poem about the way light arrives at your kitchen table in March.

And if you do, please feel free to copy it into the comments below.